Promoting the user experience: a psychological principle to be known

The foundation of the user experience is user research, and user research is not a simple drawing to the user's needs. To really do the job well.

The term "user experience" is more commonly used in the world as UX (user experience), which is based on the concept of customer supremacy, which consists of several elements, such as brand impression (sensory impact), functionality, usability and content, which are interdependent and indivisible and form a basic user experience. In essence, experience cannot be designed, and can only be designed to function, process and user interface. In the process of http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/6579.html "> users ' use, the subjective experience can be perceived as the performance level of user experience. But in practice, many people tend to narrow the user experience into the UI, that is, interface design, this view is biased. User experience should be a feeling of the whole, although the interface design is the user can most directly perceive the part, but not all, such understanding reduces the user's subjective feelings of the scope.

To improve the user experience, the first step is to understand the user through specific research means, that is, user research. The ultimate goal of user research is to serve the product design or continuous improvement. Take the website as an example, the user sees the page design and the layout on the line, to the user, the visual user interface represents the function of the website. They are not going to delve into the implementation technology and functional logic behind the page. User research is not simple to the user needs of straightforward perceptual description, to really do this work, can not be separated from the psychology and other behavioral science help, so as to provide support for research. With the help of the mature methods and theories in the field of psychology and behavior science, we can effectively improve the design standard of products and services and improve the user experience.

The match between psychological anticipation and prior experience

In the user interface of the icon design for example, we can take advantage of the human imagination of the basic psychological law. In the mind, the image of the object is stored in a prototype way, so it has certain rules when recalling or recognizing the object. For example, when it comes to "coffee cups," the "coffee cup" that emerges in the brain is basically a slant to a certain angle, and it cannot be a round cup with a overlooking angle. If we give users the coffee cup as shown in the picture, it is difficult to arouse people's sympathy, that is, the physical image and psychological expectations have clashed.

In addition, the person's prior experience will affect the subjective judgment of things. Shenze, a Japanese designer, uses people's prior experience with strawberries, bananas and kiwi fruit to design a juicy beverage package that makes people drool. The so-called "judge by appearance" in life, and this application is similar to the principle.

In the previous generation of ipod products, users do not need to learn, the fingers will be on the wheel to rotate. When the ipod is making a clatter, the surprise is that the operation on the screen is seamlessly coordinated with the physical wheel. At this time, people's expectations of products and prior experience well matched, higher use of satisfaction to achieve this, resulting in an ideal user experience.

What happens if the operation does not match expectations? It is often thought that the more frequently the button is pressed, the faster the door closes. However, in contrast to this, in fact, the closing of the action is to press the last key plus a certain "timeout" (time-out) to trigger, the number of buttons to close the door, but actually close the time than you effectively press one more longer. For example, when the Web page is slow to download, users will inadvertently repeat the screen, thinking it will speed up the process of page operation, but the result is counterproductive. This is typical of the mental model (the type of product used by the user) that does not match the conceptual model (the product used by the designer).

If the designers understand the psychological expectations of people and the principle of prior experience flexible use, for example, in the latter case, if the Web page download slow, you can give progress on the page to tell the user progress. Once the user gets the appropriate feedback (that is, the establishment of psychological expectations), will be more confident of the system, their own operations. Conversely, if you lose control of the product, the user's satisfaction with the product decreases. The perceptual filtering mechanism of people's flickering images psychology has a genre called behaviorism, the main point is that human behavior is plastic, to change the behavior of the first to change his attitude. Before, many people will simply think that advertising on the Web page, want to catch the eye when the flash design, in fact, counterproductive. From the point of view of psychology, there exists the filtering mechanism of the flickering picture, and after seeing too many pictures flashing and making sure it is the advertisement, it forms a kind of visual perception filtering mechanism. Once you see a similar picture, you will automatically speculate on the flashing images as ads, and then do not look at the area at all. Google has flexibly applied the principle of the attention-filtering mechanism in the visual perception process, and the ads in Gmail use text links instead. Because the link looks more like a normal hypertext link, the user does not feel disgusted, the result is to get a higher click rate.

People have to have a reference when they perceive.

The principle of human perception in psychology can also be applied to design. For E-commerce sites, how to show the goods have a lot of room for improvement. At present, most of the items have only been done to the image of the superficial display. And many of the parameters related to the object, but also only by words to describe. And people often through comparison to form the object size, weight and other factors.

For example, the website describes a handheld computer as "miniature", even with specifications, this text description is difficult to translate into the concept of image. How to use the principle of visual perception? The simplest way is to put a reference to the "Mini computer", more intuitive. For example, you can put a cola jar next to the item because the size of the COLA can is universal and well known. The details of the psychological principles of the flexible grasp, will allow users to have a more intuitive, intimate feelings.

According to Gestalt theory, there is a tendency to integrate what is perceived into a good form as much as possible. This "good form" does not mean "the best form", but refers to having an "integrity". There are five visual perception patterns in this perceptual reorganization.

1. The proximity law (proximity) tends to form a whole in close proximity.

2. The law of similarity, in one respect, tends to form a whole.

3. The law of Closure, each of which is part of a closed entity, tends to form a whole.

4. The law of continuity, people tend to make the line of perceptual objects continue to be straight lines, so that the curve continues to become a curve.

5. The simple law of simplicity, which has a symmetrical, regular, smooth, simple graphic feature that tends to form the whole.

If the designer grasps these perceptual laws, in the design uses the picture, the color matching may let the user consciously to have the intrinsic connection content to belong to one group.

Source: "Business School" author: Tao interview finishing: Chanlina
PS: The author is the director of China Ergonomics Society, Alibaba (China) Network Technology Co., Ltd. Senior user research expert, doctor of psychology